Catering Facilities

All year groups have their own social areas that have catering facilities. There is also a main canteen and salad bar. Catering facilities are open at both Break 1 and Break 2 and operate via a cashless system.

Caterlink (a well-established catering company in the education sector) took over responsibility for the catering service provision at WHS from September 2016. Caterlink are committed to making a substantial infrastructure investment, with over 90% of all their food made fresh on site every day.

All students, apart from Sixth Form students, are expected to stay on site at lunchtime. If you live in Brampton and wish your child to go home for lunch a lunch pass will be issued on receipt of a note from parents. If students wish they may bring their own lunch to eat in their common room.

The Cashless System

The cashless system incorporates the latest technology and eliminates the need for the students to carry money throughout the day, increasing security in school. As it is operated on a biometric system, there is no requirement for your child to carry a card, as the system will recognise their finger/thumbprint.

Parents are able to view detailed account statements online and see the daily meal choices made by their child. Any allergies or medical conditions can also be programmed into the system, preventing students from inadvertently purchasing products that they should not be eating or drinking.

You will be able to top up your child’s account through ParentPay, our existing online payments system, and any spending on food and drink will be deducted on a daily basis.

You may wish to have a daily ‘spend limit’, which can be programmed into the system to ensure that students are not spending their allocated lunch money all in one go. A limit of £5.00 will be automatically in place for all students. This limit can be increased or decreased for individual students through the online ParentPay system.

Frequently Asked Questions:

How does my child pay for their meal/snack if cash is not accepted?

This is through ParentPay, our online payment provider.  This system enables you to top-up your child’s account and view what your child has eaten during the day/week.  ParentPay can also be used to pay for trips, school transport etc.  A letter will arrive before your child is due to start school with more information.

What happens if I do not have internet/access to IT and can’t use ParentPay?

The school has three top-up machines that will accept cash. It will be the student’s responsibility to ensure that they put cash onto their account in advance of making a purchase.

How does my child pay when they reach the counter?

They will use the machine to pay for their food. The finger recognition works in conjunction with ParentPay – when a purchase is made, the cost of the food/drink is deducted from the ParentPay account and what has been bought is recorded in the ParentPay system.

Students, parents and staff can rest assured that the fingerprint images cannot be used by any other source for identification purposes. The system uses an image of the fingerprint to create a mathematical algorithm and then discards the fingerprint; only the numbers remain and these cannot be reinterpreted back into a fingerprint image.

What happens when my child leaves the School?

When a student leaves school, all data will be deleted from the systems.